Kingston man indicted in $800,000 scheme

A Kingston man is accused of running an $800,000 scheme to defraud local businesses and banks, according to the Ulster County District Attorney's Office.

Deandre H. Green, 20, was indicted by an Ulster County grand jury on two counts of scheme to defraud and 25 counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. All of the charges are felonies.

Green used social media to recruit people — an estimated 65 — to participate in the scheme from October 2016 to January 2017, the DA's office said in a news release.

He allegedly "started out by stealing checks from mailboxes," the DA's office said. Green "then solicited people on various social media sites to open bank accounts and provide him their banking information. He also solicited people to provide him a copy of their payroll check which he would use as a template to create fraudulent checks."